Wednesday, Nov 23, 2016, 12:46 pm · By Elizabeth Grossman
Will Workplace Safety Survive a Trump Presidency?
Occupational health and safety advocates are concerned about what will happen to OSHA’s already small budget under the Trump administration and the new Republican-controlled Congress. (Ianqui Doodle/ Flickr)
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to bring back U.S. factory jobs. The message resonated with blue-collar workers and Trump’s success is credited, in large part, to voters who have seen their jobs disappear and livelihoods diminish as U.S. manufacturing companies moved toward automation or just plain moved—to places with lower labor costs, like Mexico. Trump also campaigned on a promise to eliminate regulations, a position now central to his incoming administration’s policies.
Trump’s transition team has said he will introduce a moratorium on new regulations and cancel executive orders and regulations “that kill jobs and bloat government.”
We don’t yet know his picks to head the Department of Labor or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but those reported under consideration for Secretary of Labor have expressed opposition to Obama administration policies, such as paid family leave and requirements widely considered to increase pay equity for women and workers of color.
How does Trump’s promise to reduce and eliminate regulations square with creating good, living-wage jobs? How will his presidency affect workplace health and safety? What will happen to the gains made during the Obama administration?
Tuesday, Nov 22, 2016, 6:38 pm · By Michelle Chen
Trump Vows to Disrupt Trade—Progressives Need to Push Him in the Right Direction
One of Trump's first policy announcements was that he would immediately kill the already-stalled TPP negotiations. (cool revolution/ Flickr)
The one election issue tying together populist voices on the right and left was trade—or so it seemed. Donald Trump’s upset win, fueled in part by Rust Belt rage against free trade deals and globalization, could hand liberals an unexpected opportunity to push a fairer set of trade rules, if they can shift the debate away from Trump's reactionary “bull in a China shop” spectacle and toward a concrete movement to advance a people-centered alternative, based on social-justice principles not return-on-investment.
Friday, Nov 18, 2016, 5:48 pm · By Dave Kamper
Jane McAlevey Is Right About Labor’s Problem—But Wrong About the Solution
Trying to find an ideal “model” is a distraction. Organizing is hard. It is expensive, risky and even in ideal circumstances fails a lot. (SEIU 775/ Flickr)
No one who cares about the future of the American labor can disagree with the conclusion of Jane McAlevey’s new book, No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age.
She calls for a “bottom-up organizing model, one that encourages and equips workers to resist the multifaceted assault on their interests inside and outside the workplace.” That sort of organizing is necessary for unions to survive and thrive, McAlevey writes, outlining both her book’s greatest virtue and its biggest problem. She is right that organizing needs to be what the labor movement does, but wrong in her analysis of why unions aren’t doing enough of it now.
Friday, Nov 18, 2016, 2:02 pm · By Bruce Vail
Zuckerman Gives Hoffa a Run for His Money in Squeaker of a Teamsters Vote
The vote was a lot closer than most observers thought likely and shows the level of division within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. (Hoffa 2016/ Facebook)
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa appears to be headed for a narrow victory in his bid for election to a fifth term as head of the 1.3 million-member union. Unofficial vote totals show him beating challenger Fred Zuckerman with an estimated 100,000 votes, compared to some 95,000 votes for Zuckerman.
The tally was a lot closer than most observers thought likely and shows the level of division within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Thursday, Nov 17, 2016, 11:41 am · By Moshe Z. Marvit
Think It’s Tough for Labor Now? Just Wait Until Trump Takes Office in January
Donald Trump may be able to not only roll back many of Barack Obama’s accomplishments, but also change the face of labor law for decades to come. (AFL-CIO/ Facebook)
In 63 days, organized labor is going to find itself in a new political reality, which it seems totally unprepared for. Donald Trump will be president; the Republicans will control the House and Senate and one of Trump’s first tasks will be to nominate a new Supreme Court justice. Though Trump was tight-lipped about specific policy proposals, his campaign and the current constitution of the Republican party do not bode well for labor.
Trump’s actions will largely fall into one of four categories: judicial, legislative, executive and at the level of federal agencies. Each potential move will take various levels of cooperation from other branches of government and varying amounts of time to complete.
Tuesday, Nov 15, 2016, 1:17 pm · By Buzz Malone
Stop Blaming Immigrants and Start Punishing the Employers Who Exploit Them
Trump can build his wall, but so long as there are employers seeking to profit, illegal immigration from all nations will continue to be a problem. (Photo by Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images)
This article was first posted on the author's blog.
"All of us assign blame in our own best interest—blame is relative. So one of the most important functions in society is controlling the blame pattern. Why is it that [the working class] assign blame downward to some welfare chiselers down at the bottom, "Tryin' to get a little somethin' for nothin'"—and they never assign blame upward to a handful of big-time chiselers who get a whole lot of something for doing nothing at all?" -Utah Phillips, labor activist and folk singer
Illegal immigration. It's apparently one of the key issues that moved the working class electorate to vote for Trump, so I feel compelled to offer my two cents on the subject based on my own thoughts and experiences.
Monday, Nov 14, 2016, 11:41 am · By Samantha Winslow
Massachusetts Teachers Defeat Charter School Expansion: “We Took On the Corporate Giants and Won”
Question 2 would have lifted the cap and allowed up to 12 new charter schools each year—opening the floodgates to privatize public education. But voters said no, 62 to 38 percent. (Save Our Public Schools/ Facebook)
This article was first posted at Labor Notes.
One of a few silver linings in an otherwise doom-and-gloom Election Day was in Massachusetts—where, despite being outspent by corporate education reformers, a teacher-led coalition beat back charter school expansion.
“We took on the corporate giants and won,” said Concord teacher Merrie Najimy, president of her local union. “We did it the old-fashioned way, by organizing and building relationships.”
Thursday, Nov 10, 2016, 6:07 pm · By Theo Anderson
The Bright Spots for Workers Amid Tuesday’s Disastrous Election
Voters approved an increase to $12 an hour by 2020 in Arizona, Colorado and Maine. Washington voted to raise the minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020—and index it to inflation after that. (AZ Healthy Working Families/ Facebook)
The presidential election was bad news for progressives, but the dark cloud had a sort of silver lining—ballot measures. At the state level, workers won minimum wage increases in four states and paid sick leave in two.
Voters approved an increase to $12 an hour by 2020 in Arizona, Colorado and Maine. Washington voted to raise the minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020—and index it to inflation after that. In Flagstaff, Arizona, voters approved an increase above the new state minimum wage, raising it to $15 an hour by 2021.
These increases will affect about 2.3 million workers, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP). And overall, the “minimum wage ballot wins bring to 19.3 million the number of workers who have received raises because of minimum wage increases in the four years since the Fight for $15 launched in New York City and began changing the politics of the country around wages,” noted NELP’s executive director, Christine Owens.
Thursday, Nov 10, 2016, 5:07 pm · By Micah Uetricht
Labor Leaders Deserve Their Share of the Blame for Donald Trump’s Victory
Leaked emails showed that AFT's Randi Weingarten promised to act as an attack dog for Hillary Clinton against another union that had endorsed Bernie Sanders in the primary. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Donald Trump is going to be the next president of the United States. I feel a wild urge to scrub my hands with steel wool and bleach after typing those words—my fingers feel filthy.
If we want to avoid a similar nightmare in the future, we have to parse this election’s lessons and figure out who is to blame—not for cheap point-scoring, but to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again. That means we have to talk about how American union leaders helped hand this race to Trump.
Thursday, Nov 10, 2016, 1:42 pm · By Buzz Malone
Organize or Die: Labor Must Fight Like Hell to Survive a Trump Presidency
Our future as organized labor, most likely, will now depend upon our ability to genuinely mobilize and fight like hell for our survival on every front. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
This article was first posted on the author's blog.
Many years ago, I spoke to a group of labor leaders. I talked about labor history, and how we all love and revere the movement of yesteryear. I talked about how we worship and adore the era of workers rising up against the machinery of the status quo and the heroes who emerged as leaders of those movements. And then I told them that if we are not cautious, that the next worker uprising will be against us. I warned them of the dangers of becoming so intertwined into the fabric of the establishment that the working class may not readily be able to discern the difference between the two.
For the record, my speech that day was not well received. In fact, come to think of it, a pretty long period of time elapsed before they ever asked me to say anything to a group again. But that doesn't make it any less true, even if they didn't want to hear it.